Koehler Looks to Second Term
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Koehler has been an advocate for minimal tax increases and the elimination of the practice of fluoridating the water supply.
Koehler says there has been quite a bit of critique on the hiring of a consultant to look at snow removal and fleet maintenance “That was a decision by Administration and they have the right to make that decision.” He says Council did not have an opportunity to support or reject the hiring Mercury Associates for the $130 thousand dollar report.
He says the problem with fleet maintenance, was “clearly a management problem”. The fleet maintenance report says more than 50% of the fleet is outdated and needs to be replaced.
“Maintenance is not just repairing machinery anymore\’ says Koehler “We threw hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix machinery that should have been replaced long ago.”
He says he often feels he has not been given all the information a councillor should have in order to do the job as the governing body.
“I don’t like to micro manage, but the important things that affect all of us in Prince George, I would like to know.”
A former member of the Prince George Symphony, he says he supports the Performing Arts centre, but not at this time, “You look at 50, 60 million dollars, who wants to go into debt for that kind of money, we can’t do it. We have to look at the needs first, I call it essential services, roads, snow and such.”
He says he cannot see a Performing Arts Centre coming to fruition in the next four years.
Koehler says he has advocated last year, and this year, that any potential tax increase should not be higher than the cost of living. He says with the increases in user fees, boosting taxes is, in his words, a double whammy “Our taxes have increased over the past ten years by 50% and that’s not right.”
He says the draft budget which proposed a 2.5% hike was not what he expected, as he had hoped the budget would by closer to 1.8% “I had asked if we could provide all the services at 1.8% and the answer was yes, so I am not happy with this.”
He says the storm utility is “garbage, it’s another tax grab. we have to look at the money we have and do it better.” He says the increases in taxes plus the increases in other services would put the increase by about 3.5%. “We have to be leaner, not meaner.” He says business works with the money it has, and the city has to learn to do the same “They aren’t used to that.”
Social housing is a provincial matter says Koehler, “But we should do what we can do.” He says there needs to be a strategy, communication, common sense and can-do, “And that gets you as far as you can, we have to have that around the Council table.”
Comments
Mr. Koehler has been a passenger on council for the last 3 years. He can say he’s against higher taxes and fees and being efficient, but that’s not what we’ve gotten.
JohnnyBelt, he is only one vote on council. Albert has been more than vocal in keeping taxes down for our city, however, most of the current council would steamroll forward with the increases. We need a team that believes in the same concept as Albert to hold tax increases low. Albert is one of the few incumbents that has my vote.
Best of luck, Albert!
Pgjohn, exactly! Albert has been very firm and steady in his advice and demand to keep increases low and not to exceed the rate of inflation. However, he is only one vote out of nine! A voice of reason not listened to!
He certainly has my vote, but so far none of the other incumbents have my vote based on their past non-performance for which they seem to be unapologetic!
I like Albert and would vote for him again. We keep hearing about the new men’s shelter that is proposed on Quebec St. Is it the City or the Province planing this ?? Do the tax payers get a say in the matter?? Is it the PGNfC paying for it Why is there nothing about it the news papers?? The PGNFC is a huge building so why can’t Native Health and this new shelter consolidated into one and save the tax payers money and we can put a small PAC on Quebec ST.
I would like to know who on council voted to support the Storm Utility tax? What an act of desperation. Do they think we are all idiots? I refuse to vote for any councillor who supported this idea.
Listening to Albert on the radio, it seems as though he has learned the politician’s language pretty well. He does have legitimate concerns and aims that I am in favour of but I just hate hearing couched answers that only serve obfuscation.
Lets hear it clearly and directly.
I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a huge turnaround in the new council, and Albert would be a good mentor for the new kids. He has my vote.
“He says he cannot see a Performing Arts Centre coming to fruition in the next four years.” That’s not the same as saying, I won’t vote in favour of a PAC without a referendum. This is politician double speak for, I’ll say what you want to hear, and then when something changes, so will I. For example, let’s say the province does pony up 10 million, and Albert then says, well, when I said that, there wasn’t 10 million in grants available. So Albert is still leaving that door open. That said, I too thought he was one of the few incumbents worth reelecting. But I don’t get a vote, I only get to pay property taxes via my business lease – and that will include tax increases to pay for a PAC, like it or not.
He’s on current council so he’s out
Sorry – too much going on to pick and choose.
The PAC society has said over and over that it would never support a PAC referendum. I believe that the city would also never allow one as it would be doomed to failure.
Enough citizens could step up and sign, as they did with the dike issue. That would assure some peace until the city has got its finances in a better shape.
Therefore, instead of being vague about it Albert assured voters that at this time a PAC does not get his support as there are other more urgent needs!
How come none of the candidates are addressing the issue of those who live outside the city paying nothing (or very little) towards the cost of all of the city facilities like our arenas and pools and snow removal, etc. but they get all the benefits? Heck they don’t even have to chip in a cent towards the operating costs for the unbc sports center leaving us city taxpayers have to kick in 300,000 a year. We should at least get lower user fees than anybody that lives outside the city.
The irony is many who live just outside the city make huge bucks with some of the city`s major companies yet they don`t pay city taxes. It is great for them but it isn’t fair for the rest of us who pay the entire bill!
But I guess Koelher won’t be bringing that issue up because I hear he doesn’t even live in the city.
Time for some creative thinkers and just one regional municipality instead of the over regulated bureaucratic system that exists between the city and the regional district. Talk about duplication of services. Over to you Ben.
Different Perspective. Its actually worse than you describe.
An article in yesterdays Citizen outlines the rules covering those who run for public office. There is no requirement that you be a resident of the City that you want to run in. So we have a situation where three people who are running for Councilor actually live outside the City limits. Kohler, Lower Mud River Road. Huber, Blackwater Road, and Spooner, Cluculz Lake.
Not having their permanent residence in Prince George means that they do not pay property tax to the City on their home, and by extension they do not pay any of the one line item taxes such as Snow Control, Road Rehab, 2015 Winter Games, Gen. Infrastructure Reinvestment Fund. Nor would they pay any utilities.
If they own Commerical property in the City then of course they would pay commercial taxes, and if they had rentals they would pay taxes on the rental properties, however this cost would be downloaded to the renters or the lessors, etc;
Owning property in the City allows them to vote in the election, so Kohler and Huber, could vote, however Spooner although allowed to run for Council could not vote.
So. We have a situation where people from out of town if elected to Council, as was Kohler last year can vote on tax increases, utility increases, and snow, road, tax increase’s, however they do not have to pay any of these taxes or increases. This is a rather strange situation.
Why should a Councilor who does not pay taxes to the City have the ability to vote to raise taxes to residents.
Just threw this out for discussion. Seems a little unfair to me.
Mr Koelher pays taxes for the building he owns on Westwood Drive. He can only pass on so much cost to tenants before they will find other options. Much like homeowners can only afford so much. He also puts in alot of time volunteering that you don’t hear about. He has my vote.
Interesting comments. Residents of Cluculz Lake have to pay taxes to fund a major swimming pool in Vanderhoof. That doesn’t seem right or fair either. Mr. Spooner might have some comments about that one.
oldcoot. Don’t confuse commercial property with taxes paid for your primary residence in Prince George. Two different things entirely. In Koehlers case, he does not pay the same property taxes to the City, nor the utility taxes that other homeowners pay.
Commercial taxes are part of doing business and can be deducted as an expense I believe. Correct me if I’m wrong.
My point is, these people from outside the City limits can vote for increases in taxes for us, however the tax increases do not apply to them.
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